Energy-efficient Urban Sensing

Since 2008, more than 50% of all people worldwide are living in urban areas. The urban population is expected to grow from 3.5 billion to 5 billion over the next 20 years. Population density, waste, poverty, mobility, and air quality are just some examples of challenges faced in urban areas today and even more in the future.

A solution proposed today is known as smart city. The main idea is to use information and communication technology to provide a kind of ’real-time data layer’ for cities. This will increase the transparency and efficiency for all stakeholders (e.g., citizens, industry, commerce, and government). In order to attempt to provide such a real-time data layer, wireless sensor networks are identified as the key technology. They are supposed to offer a cheap and easy solution for large-scale deployments. In addition, wireless communication reduces the need for further infrastructure.

We identified three key challenges in applying urban sensor networks: (i) deployment, (ii) standards and generic solutions, and (iii) energy. This work focuses on new approaches tackling the energy challenge and how real-world systems can be built.